NAME

irnet - IrNET protocol device

DESCRIPTION

File /dev/irnet is used to access and configure the IrNET protocol part
of the Linux-IrDA stack.
IrNET is a protocol allowing to create TCP/IPconnections between two
IrDA peers in an efficient fashion, and generally to enable standard
networking over IrDA. It is a thin layer, passing PPP packets to IrTTP
and vice versa. It uses PPP in synchronous mode, because IrTTP offer a
reliable sequenced packet service (as opposed to a byte stream). In
fact, you could see IrNET as carrying TCP/IP in a IrDA socket, using
PPP to provide the glue.
The main difference with traditional PPPoverIrCOMM is that it avoids
the framing and serial emulation which are a performance bottleneck. It
also allows multipoint communications in a sensible fashion. And
finally, it can automatically handle incomming connections through
irnetd.
The main difference with IrLAN is that we use PPP for the link
management, which is more standard, interoperable and flexible than the
IrLAN protocol. For example, PPP adds authentication, encryption,
compression, header compression and automated routing setup. And, as
IrNET let PPP do the hard work, the implementation is much simpler than
IrLAN.
IrNET connections are initiated and managed with pppd(8). File
/dev/irnet also offer a controlchannel. Reads from /dev/irnet will
return various IrNETevents. Write to /dev/irnet allow to configure
the IrNET connection.

CONFIGURATION

If your system does not have /dev/irnet created already, it can be
created with the following commands:
mknod -m 644 /dev/irnet c 10 187
chown root:root /dev/irnet
You will also need to have IrNET support in your kernel or as module
and the Linux-IrDA stack installed and configured (see irattach(8)).
File /dev/irnet is supposed to only be used with the PPPlinediscipline or for accessing the controlchannel, other use are
unsupported. IrNET support multiple concurent connections (limited by
the IrDA stack), all those connections are multiplexed on a single
/dev/irnet device (as opposed to IrCOMM which as one device per
connection).

PARAMETERS

Writing commands to /dev/irnet allow to configure the IrNET connection
being made. This need to be done through pppd(8) (see below for
examples). Commands are separated by comas.
name<peer>
Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA nickname is <peer>. The
IrDA nickname is a string up to 31 characters.
daddr<peer>
Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA address is <peer>. The
IrDA address is a 32 bits hexadecimal number.
raddr<port>
Restrict connections to the local IrDA interface which IrDA
address is <port>. The IrDA address is a 32 bits hexadecimal
number.

DISPLAY

Reading from /dev/irnet will show various IrNETevents. This is
usually done with the command cat/dev/irnet.
Found Dump of the current IrNET discovery log.
Discovered
New IrNET device discovered.
Expired
Previously discovered IrNET device no longer present.
Connectedto
This computer successfully established an IrNET connection to a
peer.
Connectionfrom
A peer successfully established an IrNET connection to this
computer.
Requestfrom
A peer attempted to connect to this computer, but no IrNET
connection was waiting for it.
No-answerfrom
This computer attempted to connect to a peer, but no IrNET
connection was waiting for it.
Blockedlinkwith
The IrDA link of the IrNET connection is currently blocked.
Disconnectionfrom
A peer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with this
computer.
Disconnectedto
This computer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with a
peer.
File /proc/net/irda/irnet will also show the current state of the
various IrNET connections.